Rhode Island's Dan Hurley to be hired as head coach at UConn
Rhode Island's Dan Hurley is headed to UConn on a six-year deal to become its new head coach, multiple sources told ESPN.
Hurley, 45, will replace Kevin Ollie, who was let go by the Huskies earlier this month after a fourth subpar season.
Hurley, who informed his team of the decision early Thursday morning, inherited a fledging Rhode Island program six seasons ago and took the Rams to the NCAA tournament in each of the past two years. He has weighed three offers over the past couple of days, from UConn and Pittsburgh as well as an increased, long-term offer from Rhode Island.
Hurley will bring assistant Tom Moore, who was an assistant under Jim Calhoun at UConn, with him, according to sources, but the rest of the staff will depend on whether his top assistant, David Cox, is elevated at URI.
Ultimately, it was the history in Storrs that proved to be the difference for Hurley. UConn is the only program in the country that has won four national titles in the past two decades.
While the Huskies lack high-level talent, Hurley still believed the program represented his best opportunity to be successful, sources said, even though Pittsburgh offered a more lucrative deal.
The Panthers were winless in the ACC this past season, Kevin Stallings' second with the program, and nine players have requested their releases and will consider transferring. Sources told ESPN that Pittsburgh's offer to Hurley was in excess of $3 million per year.
URI's offer, per sources, was $2 million per year for seven years beginning in July 2019 with a commitment to build a basketball-only practice facility to be completed within the next two years, along with staff salary increases and ability to charter for all away games.
UConn won the national title in 2014, Ollie's second season at the helm, but the Huskies have gone to the NCAA tournament just once in the past four years -- in 2016, when their season was saved by a 70-foot prayer by Jalen Adams in the American Athletic Conference tourney. UConn finished 14-18 this past season.
Hurley will inherit a roster that has been depleted with defections and poor recruiting. Terry Larrier has announced he will leave to turn pro, and Adams, the team's top player, has been noncommittal whether he will return.
But Hurley, the son of legendary high school coach Bob Hurley Sr. and the brother of current Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, is used to rebuilding. He did it at St. Benedict's Prep School in New Jersey, at Wagner College and at Rhode Island.
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